The streets would have been empty without him. Without his paintbrush
or the liquid rainbows streaming violently from his heart and
soul, there would be no color on his neighborhoods walls
or sidewalks.

The kids knew him only as
the Wizard, and the Wizard never revealed his true name to anyone.
From dusk to dawn, he translated the static in his mind into magnificent
works of art -- then would disappear back into the hole from which
he came from.

Over the course of several
years, Wizard's territory gradually became a super trendy community
for artists - who all came from faraway places. Inspired by Wizard's
work, they too created majestic art, and it wasn't long until
the media came to make everyone who lived there super rich and
famous.

One by one, each artist reached
the stars, and with more time, an unknown stranger came along
and claimed he was the Wizard. He was flown all around the world
and handed fancy cars, but nobody knew that the real Wizard still
lived in his hole like a lizard.

Then one day, a young man
noticed a remarkable piece of art, on a now abandoned boulevard,
and alerted everyone that the long-gone Wizard had finally returned
for a surprise visit.

But in truth, the Wizard had
ever left his streets. But since his neighborhood had been overtaken
by herds of other artists, his work had quickly gotten lost in
the mix. And now that all the other artists had moved away after
being consumed by the media circus, the walls were now clear again
for Wizard to work his magic tricks.

The young man who spotted
the Wizards signature, decided to never sleep a wink in
hopes of catching the artist for a quick autograph and side-by-side
picture. And as he stayed up night after night to get a sight
of this super famous guy, he soon discovered the Wizard was actually
the weird lone-wolf hipster who had married his estranged sister.

Upon finally meeting the Wizard,
the young man promised never to reveal the artists true
identity, and in exchange he was given a tour of his studio basement.
In it, he came across thousands of canvases covered with art and
asked the Wizard if he could sell them for a split of the deal.
The Wizard told him they were all far from being complete, but
added the young man was always welcome to come and sit with him.
But over time, the young mans greed grew out of control,
and he stole all of Wizards art and spit on him.

Not too long after, colors
faded from the streets and Wizards veins, and he died in
his wifes arms -- taking with him his infamous vision. And
now when you ask the kids from way back then, that had now grown
up: Whatever happened to the rainbow magician?

They will tell you, he now
lives in a castle somewhere in Paris where he paints and
sleeps with thousands of women!

 Suzy Kassem, a master
at capturing the human condition.

=Blue Panther=

"The Creator, The Imitator, and The Traitor" by Suzy Kassem

Copyright 1994-2017. All rights reserved.

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